Armenian Apostolic Church

The Armenian Apostolic Church is a Miaphysite Christian denomination which is the national church of the Armenians. In 30 AD, the apostles Jude Thaddeus and Bartholomew the Apostle converted King Abgar V of Osroene to Christianity, and he commissioned Thaddeus to continue proselytizing throughout Armenia. Both apostles ordained native bishops before their martyrdoms, but Christians were persecuted until the reign of Tiridates III of Armenia, who himself adopted the faith after having persecuted it. In 301 AD, Tiridates made Christianity the state religion, and Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion. By the 2010s, the church had 9,000,000 members.